Teen Who 'Joked' By Dropping A Noose Around Black Teens' Neck Apologizes

[matcom]

<snip>

Here's what police said happened: The incident started when an unidentified Largo High School girl, allegedly bet Giannola $10 to put the noose around a black student's neck. Prior to that, the unidentified boy tied the noose with a rope in his trunk.

The students lobbed racial epithets at Hall, who was walking into the restaurant with several basketball teammates.

Hall reacted calmly and left the scene to tell his basketball coach what happened. Later that week, the girl, who is biracial, was charged with aiding a hate crime, a misdemeanor. The boy with the rope, who is white, was arrested on a felony charge of aiding a hate crime. His charge was a felony because of a prior arrest record.

The young people told police it was all a joke.

Giannola was placed in jail, but was released on bail soon after.

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2004/05/25/Northpinell...

[Servo300]

1. Some "jokes" just aren't very funny....

[stopthegop]

2. when I was in high school some guys nearly

killed a student with a similar 'joke'....sometimes you wonder how people manage to function with so little common sense

[Cheswick2.0]

3. Kids do dumb stuff and they do mean it as a joke

they tend to have very bad impulse control. But now a whole group of kids knows that some jokes are NOT FUNNY! Good for them and I hope these kids are punished appropriately.

[Endangered Specie]

4. Ill bet he wont be laughing in jail, in the shower, ...

You get the picture, Im sure some men in jail wont find the joke all too funny.

[GOPisEvil]

5. At what point, exactly, did this seem like a good idea?

Good Lord!